SEATTLE, WASHINGTON -- This Company and its employees are plain awful! First, the notifications for payments don't always go through then they charge you for a late payment and call you non stop (even if you have made payments threw out the month that equal up to or more than the min payment due). Then they con you into making a bigger payment then you really need to by saying that that is the minimum payment due when in reality it is not. When you call to get this worked out the banking services department's employees are incredible rude. They talk over you and insist that you have been talking over them (and in order to insult you they had to talk over you..).

Also they talk as if they are lawyers and know your rights better than you know your own (I did my research and my father is a lawyer). Then when you insist to talk to a supervisor they insist that they don't have one, so they are either lying or poorly run. Also they cash back only works once you have $50 worth of cash back.

Until then you are required to use it at Amazon (this is a stipulation they don't make clear when signing up). All in All this is one of the absolute worst companies I have ever had to deal with! I would suggest that you DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM EVER FOR ANY REASON seeing as though their main issue is customer service and stealing money.

NATIONWIDE -- Discover Card engages in unconscionable behavior and exploits their cardholders through predatory lending practices. My interest rate on my Discover Platinum card was 12.74% as of the April 19, 2005 statement and is now 27.99% as of my March 19, 2006 statement. My account has seen a monthly "just noticeable difference" interest rate increase of .25% to .75% per month from April 2005 to December 2005. My interest rate jumped almost 10% from 16.49% to 25.99% in the month of December 2005 and is currently at 27.49% as of the March 19, 2006 billing. Since December 2005, Discover keeps increasing my interest rate each month in small steps of .25%-.50%.

I encountered a problem with Chase Bank not utilizing my overdraft line of credit and thus my bank account over drafted and the balance went negative as non-sufficient fees compounded on the account. It took me almost 4 weeks to resolve this matter with Chase. Chase eventually took responsibility for their error and reversed almost $1,000 in NSF fees on the account. Because of Chase's error, my November 2005 Discover Card payment was returned to Discover Card towards the beginning of December as NSF and Discover Card increased my interest rate from 16.74% to 25.99%.

Chase Bank provided a letter to me and the letter stated and acknowledged their error. I forwarded the letter to Discover Card and they will not reduce my interest rate because their justification is "I have been over my credit limit within the last 12 months". I would not had been over my credit limit had Chase initially paid the November 2005 payment as they should have done. Discover Card also compounded the damage and caused my account to go over the limit by assessing me late fees, over limit fees and return item fees along with continually increasing my interest rate.

They also continued to approve charges while the account was over the assigned credit limit and now they are trying to exploit me with unconscionable interest rate increases and do not want to work with me and restore the account to the point it would have been had Chase paid my November 2005 payment and not returned it. I have tried to speak with Discover Card and they do not wish to help me and continue to revert to the cardholder agreement "which clearly states they cab change the terms at any time". I have proven beyond reasonable doubt to Discover Card that Chase made a mistake and that Chase has taken full responsibility for the error. Discover will not budge in my favor and they continue to exploit me with exorbitant interest rates and interest rate increases, higher payments and over the limit fees.

Discover Card keeps reverting to the cardholder agreement as their justification for my interest rate hikes yet Discover Card and Chase bank have gotten me where I am today with this account. Chase accepted responsibility for their mistake. Discover Card will not make amends to my account because Discover would rather profit from my misfortune with Chase Bank and Discover also told me the ultimate responsibility falls on me to ensure payments are made on time. Discover will not accept Chase's letter but instead want to use this as an opportunity to profit in the short term and loose a customer in the long term.

The cardholder agreement is a cohesion contract and I am the weaker party because I do not have any bargaining power. Discover is using this to their advantage to engage in predatory and unconscionable lending practices and exploit their cardholders and rake up millions of dollars in additional income. The cardholder agreement , because of the binder arbitration agreement which gives Dsicover Card free rein to exploit their cardholders and nor be held accountable because the cardholder has no recourse and cannot revert to the court system to hold Discover Card accountable for their abuses, is a non-negotiable cohesion contract where the cardholder has no power or recourse and Discover Card has the power to amend it at anytime in their favor and as often as they want too.

The cardholder is exploited and has to either accept the amendment or close the account if they do not wish to accept the new term(s). Discover Card skims more money from the cardholders , in small amounts from the mass population, as a result of changing the cardholder agreement and sneaking in small monthly interest rate increases in hopes the cardholder does not notice them. I advise everyone to watch their interest rate monthly on their account and don't become victim to their practices.

It is ironic how David Nelms, Chief Executive Officer, came to Discover Card in 2005 and all these predatory lending practices seem to be increasing and occurring since his assignment to Chief Executive Officer. David's prior employment was with MBNA. MBNA had several class action lawsuits brought against them for predatory lending and fraud during David's tenure and now Discover Card is engaging in these practices. Coincidence here? It sure seems to me that the top leadership has brought his MBNA business tactics to Discover Card and implemented them to exploit their cardholders and generate millions in income.

There was a case in California, as follows, that illustrates Discover Card's attempted use of the Arbitration Agreement, and the court upheld the agreement as unconscionable.

If you are a Discover Card account holder and have experienced more than one interest rate increase within the last year even though your credit has not changed and Discover Card has used predatory tactics with you and you would like to be a member and/or participate in a class action lawsuit, contact me via email.

A class action lawsuit is also being considered to challenge the credit card industry's "BMA- Binding Mandatory Arbitration" clauses.Discover Card implemented the BMA back in 2001 and several other big credit card companies followed suit. The Arbitration clause disallows class action lawsuits and court action by cardholders and further encourages Discover Card to use their power to commit fraud and engage in predatory lending and not be held accountable by the courts for their actions.

My recommendations are :
1) Get rid of your Discover Card account and do not do business with any credit card company which uses "BMA". The companies that utilize arbitration are the ones who setout to exploit the consumer and don't want to be held accountable by the courts for their unconscionable and predatory actions. The following credit card companies have and use binding mandatory arbitration - Bank of America, Discover Card, JPMorgan Chase, Washington Mutual, Chevy Chase, MBNA, Wells Fargo, Household Financial, Beneficial, Orchard Bank and Providian so steer away from them because they will exploit you and take your money. Only do business with credit card companies who do not dictate terms and make you use arbitration or have binding mandatory arbitration. Credit Unions are your best defense against the credit card industry and arbitration clauses as most credit unions don't use arbitration because they are not out to steal people's money.

The best thing we all can do to the "credit card loan sharks" is take our credit business to a credit union and get one of their Visa's. I checked out the credit unions in my area and the rates are 8%-15%, no Late fees until 10 days after the payment due date, 9.9% fixed APR on balance transfers until they are paid off and no over limit fees. Most of the credit union websites I checked out had fixed rate credit cards so you know what your rate will be and don't have to worry about them pulling the "interest rate increase tricks" and escalating your interest rate because you are now "a greater risk" or just changing the rate at their leisure to generate more income.

IF you do fall prey to Discover Card or any other credit card company and they change your terms and/or exploit you, notify the following and file a complaint or share your story:

A Discover Card user agreement that expressly bars class action arbitrations was upheld yesterday by this district's Court of Appeal, setting up a conflict with a ruling last year from the Fourth District.

In Christopher Boehr's case against Discover, this district's Div. One ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts provisions of the California Unfair Practices Act and other California law that makes the class action waiver substantively unconscionable.

Sec. 2 of the FAA, a 1925 statute passed to reverse what this district has called ?longstanding judicial hostility to arbitration agreements,? mandates enforcement of arbitration agreements.

?While a state may prohibit the contractual waiver of statutory consumer remedies, including the right to seek relief in a class action, such protections fall by the wayside when the waiver is contained in a validly formed arbitration agreement governed by the FAA,? Justice Reuben A. Ortega wrote.

The clause that moved Boehr to sue Discover and seek class action status was added by notice to cardholders in July 1999. It eliminates access to court in the event of a claim by either Discover or the cardholder when either chooses arbitration.
It also bars either side from joining or consolidating actions in arbitration by or against other cardholders with respect to other accounts, or arbitrating any claim as a representative of a class or in a private attorney general capacity.

Boehr charged that Discover breached the cardholder agreement by imposing a late fee of $29 on payments that were received on the due date but after an undisclosed 1 p.m. ?cut-off time.?
The Fourth District Court of Appeal's Div. Three ruled last April that the same class action waiver clause takes a back seat to California's public policy.

?The clause is not only harsh and unfair to Discover customers who might be owed a relatively small sum of money, but it also serves as a disincentive for Discover to avoid the type of conduct that might lead to class action litigation in the first place,? Justice Eileen C. Moore wrote in Szetela v. Discover Bank.

Moore wrote that the provision violates fundamental notions of fairness and violates public policy ?by granting Discover a ?get out of jail free' card while compromising important consumer rights.?

It also violates public policy, Moore wrote, by working against judicial economy.

?To allow litigants to contract away the court's ability to use a procedural mechanism that benefits the court system as a whole is no more appropriate than contracting away the right to bring motions in limine, seek directed verdicts, or use other procedural devices that allow the court to operate in an efficient manner,? Moore said.

But Moore's opinion in Szetela did not deal with the federal preemption question. Ortega said that meant it was wrongly decided.

A threshold issue was whether to rely on Delaware or California law. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl said Szetela showed there was a difference between them because of California's unconscionability policy, and struck the class action waiver clause from the agreement since pursuing Delware law would violate a fundamental public policy here.

But Ortega said Boehr failed to adequately brief his stance that no arbitration agreement was formed. The issue being conceded, Ortega said, the court is left to look at a valid arbitration agreement which necessarily is governed by the FAA.
The case is Discover Bank v. Superior Court, B161305.

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Discover Card’s Service Belongs to Third World Countries

Posted by Ting on 01/27/2011

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- When I was living in US, Discover had been consistently sending me advertisement about their cards. Although I was already happy with my current credit cards, I thought I could give Discover a try in July 2010. The result? I was really offended by the disturbing experience Discover representatives threw at me. Their incompetence forced me to sacrifice valuable time and other goals in a pressed schedule (so pressed that I had to travel and slept in a car outside to meet schedule), only to make a successful payment to Discover.

So here was how it happened. After I used Discover card for a while, I needed to move to Canada, so I used IP relay service to call Discover (as a hard hearing person without land line at home, IP relay was the only communication method for me with Discover) and required an address change. Suddenly the relay operator told me the call was terminated for a fraud reason. Discover then locked my account. As a consequence, I could not make a payment online.

After my account was locked, I immediately contacted Discover security department to verify my identity. I informed the Discover representative, Kay, that I couldn’t hear sound so I couldn’t pick up their call. Kay insisted that their record showed they had spoken to the cardholder so they would still go ahead and call back. Well how could they have the record of calling me when I couldn’t communicate through phone and never met them in person? Therefore it is either (1) this Discover representative was a liar, or (2) the representative was unprofessional and didn’t know what she was talking about.

I was still willing to give Discover another chance. Several days later I successfully verified my identity with next representative, and confirmed that the request for foreign address change was indeed from the cardholder. After one week, I contacted them to change my address. I also kindly reminded them that I made the same request for address change last time. Guess what, they locked my account again, despite my effort to verify my identity a week ago.

On next day before I departed from US, I told a Discover representative, Ariana, about my situation. They refused to unlock my account (address change neither) and they wanted to call me back later. I had to explain to Ariana again about my disability and I couldn’t pick up phone call. She just said she couldn’t continue the call and hanged up disrespectfully. At the time I was completely done with Discover.

So the pattern I see here is if the cardholder requires a change to a foreign address, Discover locks the account and turns head away. When they don’t like answers from cardholder or feel their ego is invaded, they treat the cardholder like a thief in rude manner. This is especially true when they hear explanation that the cardholder can’t receive call from Discover. And does Discover realize that if the cardholder is ACTUALLY moving to another address, by refusing to change address, they are putting the cardholder at the risk of exposing information to next renter at the previous address? They also gave me a difficult time to communicate to them and make payment to the card, and I suffered from their rude attitude when I had a lot, lot of work to do at that time, and when I was very sick and coughing painfully. How their fraud department handles fraud is absolutely ridiculous and laughable.

My VISA and AmEx card companies politely changed my address without any problem, hence I concluded Discover service is trash and I will not do further business with them. No wonder VISA, MasterCard and AmEx are still the mainstream while Discover is still a nobody-Care Credit card company, along with their uncivil and backward representatives.

DON’T USE DISCOVER.

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Discover Card Does Not Honor Commitments They've Made

Posted by Blues Fan on 02/21/2010

My wife lost her job and it was becoming difficult for us to make our Discover Card payment. I called them and the customer service representative told me that we qualified for a program where they would close the account and have an agreed upon amount automatically taken from our checking account on a designated date each month. They reduced our annual interest rate to 7.00% annually. The representative enthusiastically told me that as long as we made these payments on time each month, we would continue to qualify for this reduced interest rate. Money was tight with the loss of my wife's income, but I made sure that this bill was paid on time each month because with the interest rate being so reasonable I could see our balance lower each month. In fact, the Discover Card representative told me that if we stayed on program the balance of our Discover Card in five years.

To my surprise, when I received my January 2010 statement it indicated that only a minimum payment was due, which was less that the amount I'd agreed to pay on on the repayment, and the interest rate had increased to 29.99%

I though there must be some mistake so I called Discover Card. After being transferred four times to four different people, the only answer I was able to get from Discover Card was that this program was only for 12 months, that their representative was incorrect when he said that I would be elible for this reduced interest for the next five years. The only suggestion was that I call a credit couseling agency. They made absolutely no effort to live up to the promises they made me when I enrolled with this program.

The U.S. economy is the worst it's been since the Great Depression, millions of American have lost their jobs, house foreclosures and bankrupticies are at record levels, but Discover Card doesn't care about this - they just want to make sure that they collect their "loan shark" interest rates. Credit card companies are "organized crime". I've had a Discover Card for over 25 years. I feel like I've been duped. I will never give them my business and will recommend to everyone I know that they do the same.

Chase Bank and Well Fargo set me up on similar programs to repay our credit card after my wife lost her job. Gues what I'm still on these programs, they getting paid a reasonable rate of interest on the I the credit card balance, and I'm watchin the balance go down each month. It's too bad that Discover Card is so greedy, that they won't let their cusotmers continue with this program during these trying economic time.

Don't do business with Discover Card they have no integrity and don't live up to the agreements they make!

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Loyalty Means Nothing to Discover

Posted by superman69 on 04/25/2009

GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA -- My mother-in-law has been a loyal Discover Card holder for over 23 years and has never been late, not once.

Recently, she received a letter that her interest rate got bounced up to 25.99% from 12.99 because of the economical crisis that Discover is experiencing. My mother-in-law is on a very low fixed income from her Social Security and barely gets $800 per month to live on.

Also, do to a flood of her living space, many of her papers were destroyed, including her April 2009 Discover statement, so she thought. So immediately Discover charged her a $40 late fee...her balance is less than $1000 and she has a $18,000 limit.

So my wife called Discover on behalf of her mother and pleaded with customer service to reverse the fees and lower the interest rate and they said that if she make the payment by phone for April and May 2009, then they might reverse the late fee only after the payment is processed and then my mother-in-law needs to call to request the reversal herself (she hardly speaks any English), but there is no promises or guarantees. As for the interest rate, there was nothing that Discovery can supposedly do.

So basically, Discover is trying to rectify the money they are losing from the poor economy by charging their perfect to nearly perfect customers more than twice the interest rate, and not showing any loyalty back to their clients that have a perfect record. What kind of Customer Service Oriented Financial Institution is this? Its a Rip off and the CEO David Nelms is responsible for everything that happens with the company and its financial supporters - MEANING ITS CUSTOMERS.

DISCOVER CARD IS A RIP OFF, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS, AND THE CEO IS SCREWING EVERYONE THAT IS A CUSTOMER.

This is far from being over and we will pursue justice on behalf of our mother until the CEO, David Nelms gives an answer himself!!!

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- First Off, I (We) have been dealing with Discover for some years now. And like many complaints I have read I feel someone wrote it for Me!! Not much is different in the way we have been treated by these ruthless individuals. One thing, are when we had about 3,000 on the card We stopped using it. I usually paid $10 or so over the min. Payment amount just to be ahead a little. Well seemed like the bill kept getting higher. .. When I called they always told me my payment was late. .. the payment due date was ALWAYS the 13th. & was auto. Draft from my bank account. .. So if the 13th landed on Sun. The payment automatically came out Mon. A. M. .. Hum, it was late to them. Even though they said it wasn't, I could see the out come on the next billing cycle. We were supposed to be paper-less Billing!? How dose that work!! We still get monthly statements & internet billing. I have not charged on my card for 3 yrs. In fact both have been cut up. My bill is over 5,000. Let me tell You also I have offered them 3,000 for a settlement just last week. Believe me when I say the answer was No. Were not excepting "any" settlements at this time. WTH!! Question now what can we do. Who out there can help Us and Numerous other who have been taken? I'm very much believing from reading one other review that Discover is in fact IS a White Collar Terrorist Organization Operating with Impunity in the United States.

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Discover Card Does Not Care About Long-Term Card Members

Posted by Becki on 06/18/2013

Rating: 1/51

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE -- I have been a Discover Card member since 2000. Recently, I was promised 5% cash back on 'every purchase' for 3 months when I received and activated my new card. I checked my rewards balance after 2 months to find I was receive less than 1% cash back. I called to correct the error only to be told I had to spend $500 in order to receive the 5% and could only receive up to $75 in rewards. Well, I was pretty peeved and said, "I'll just close my account" and hung up. I wrote the CEO complaining about their treatment and false promises. I received a call the following day from the 'executive office' and ended up hanging up on them too. I logged into my account just the other day and the rewards money I had was gone. I emailed customer service only to be told my account had been closed as per my request. Funny because it was closed the day before I received the call from the executive office...why would they call if I was no longer a member??

Discover card closed my account without verifying I actually wanted it closed. They closed it without verifying any security information or reviewing any account closure agreements/consequences with me. They were unapologetic and simply said, "you closed your account so you forfeited your rewards." After being a member for 13 years with no late payments and never going over my limit that’s what I got.

Discover card doesn’t give a damn about their customers and their cash back program is a joke. I’ll stick with my Bank of America Visa card and my Chase MasterCard…at least they honor their promises.

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I'm Sick of Credit Card Interest Rates

Posted by Angela on 07/03/2012

Rating: 1/51

AMELIA, VIRGINIA -- I've had a Discover credit card for years, since 2002. I have not managed to pay it off yet. I tried making payments over the minimum. That certainly didn't work. If I send a $100.00 to them, only $9.00 dollars goes to the principle. I'm so sick of it. I'm think of of going to the bank and borrowing enough to pay them off and just canceling the card all together. Even American General Finance company is starting to look good. I might go to them. I'm sick of paying 29.99% interest and I haven't used the card since last year.

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HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Posted by strongmom on 09/27/2010

Discover Card called my home asking to speak with a person who no longer lives with me and hasn't lived with me for over one year. I do not own a Discover Card, never have owned one and had nothing to do with the call. I was just unlucky enough to answer my own home phone. Then they kept asking for a phone number. The tone of the operator's voice was truly aggressive and truthfully scary. I told them I didn't know how to help them and that I was rushed to get my two very young children to Kindergarten. The operator was sarcastic and scary. That's all I know. I have no idea what the phone call was about and it also had nothing to do with me. I again have no Discover Card, never have, and at this point never will. If their customer service is so rude as to not ever say they are sorry for disturbing me when I've explained how rushed I am with my children, sorry that they are continuing to ask me for information I don't have to give them, then I would be crazy to ever have a Discover Card of my own. They even asked me to give the other person a message which was totally inappropriate. When all you do is answer your own home phone and people like that are on the other end it makes me not want to have a phone at all. This was none of my business and the minute they heard I wasn't the card owner they should have said they were sorry and hung up. Discover Card according to my own experience with them has terrible, scary and aggressive customer service even to innocent people who don't own their card. The supervisor was just as bad, so all I know is I'm leaving Discover Card alone!

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Credit card fraud

Posted by maddcat on 01/03/2010

I cancel my membership with La fitness, I was charge a monthly fee using my Discover Card, after I verified my cancellation with La fitness I cancel my account with discover and open up a new account with them with identity theft protection, because I had heard from other La fitness members that even if you cancel your membership La fitness with still try to bill you, I now have a new account with Discover, on the 15th of December La fitness billed my old account and Discover transferred the payment to the new account plus they provided La fitness with my new account number so that they can continue to bill me monthly on a membership they know I cancel, I even told Discover people that I had cancel my membership with La fitness before I cancel my old account, because they ask me if I had any monthly fees with any creditors, they said that any activities to my old account will not affect my new account because the old account is now close, when I received my protection report of any activities happening on my credit report, there was no reports of La fitness making any attempts to charge my account, when I thought that everything was safe I call Discover to have the identity theft protection remove, and to let me know what my balance was on my account, my balance was high even after I made my last payment, I always pay more than the minimal payment, I ask them why was my balance high after I made a payment, and they said that La fitness charge me for my monthly membership fees, and they transferred everything to my new account, I told them that I cancel my membership with La fitness, and they said that they will continue to let La fitness charge my account until I can prove to them that I cancel with La fitness, so I told them to just cancel my account out all together because this transaction is between me and La fitness, and not Discover, people do not do business with Discover Card, they will let creditors charge your account even if you have Identity theft protection, they will lie to you about what's going on on your account just to continue to get money out of you, they said that they will dispute the charges with La fitness but I am still liable for the monthly payments, by La fitness until we can get this settle, its no use, it is best to just cancel out the account all together, I never heard of this have anybody else had this problem with a credit card company before?